Lucky Dogs Get Shot at Diabetes Cure

When I first saw this my heart skipped a beat. After reading it, I calmed down again, but at least it is a step in the right direction. Dogs have been our best friends in the discovery of diabetes treatment for type 1's. Now they are part of finding the cure.Check it out.

THURSDAY, Feb. 14 (HealthDay News) — In news that might one day help humans who struggle with type 1 diabetes every day, Spanish researchers report that a single session of gene therapy injections cured five beagle puppies who had the blood sugar disease.

Even four years later, the dogs showed no signs of diabetes.

"Our data represent the first demonstration of long-term correction of diabetes in a large animal model using gene transfer," the scientists wrote in the Feb. 7 online issue of Diabetes.

However, the dogs all had a chemically induced version of diabetes that's meant to model human type 1 diabetes.

In humans, type 1 diabetes is an autoimmune disease, which means the body's own immune system mistakenly attacks healthy cells as though they were bacteria or viruses.

In the case of type 1 diabetes, the immune system destroys the insulin-producing beta cells located in the pancreas. Insulin is a hormone that's needed to transport glucose into the body's cells to be used as fuel. Glucose is sugar that comes from the carbohydrates you consume. Carbohydrates are nutrients found in a variety of foods, including fruits, vegetables, breads and sweets.